


With A Heavy Heart

by CasperTheCaper



Category: Original Work
Genre: Apocalypse, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:40:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27618500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasperTheCaper/pseuds/CasperTheCaper
Comments: 2





	With A Heavy Heart

Ethan slowly opens his eyes, what woke him up? He wondered silently, after he sat there for a second he could hear the quiet murmurings of the tv, it sounded like the news. He looked at the clock on his nightstand, 3:23 am. What was the tv on so early for? Careful not to wake his brother, who was an extremely light sleeper (unlike him) he slowly climbed out of bed and down the hall. Both of his parents were sitting on the couch together, watching the news together, 

“Mom? Dad? What’s going on?” His mom looked up at him, and he was shocked to see tears shining in her eyes, “Mom?” He slowly walked over and looked at the tv. 

“-oods rapidly progressing inland over the eastern and western seaboards, we strongly advise that anyone within the vicinity of the red areas above to evacuate immediately. We repeat, evacuate immediately.... It also appears that with the flo---------a-------------migra------nlan-------so b--extremel-----areful---whe--” and with that the tv promptly turned off, along with every other electronic device in the house. Ethan stared at the now black screen in shock... His house had been inside one of the marked areas on the map.... His parents sat there quietly, as if trying to decide what the best course of action would be at that moment. 

“Ethan, go wake up your brother and pack your bag.” Ethan startled at the sound of his father’s voice, he had been sitting there quietly next to his mother, almost seeming as if he wasn't there. Ethan nodded and quickly walked back to his room and proceeded to do as his father had asked him.

“mmmnnhh?” His brother stirred, small tired eyes cracking open slightly. “What’s going on?” The smaller boy questioned, the traces of sleep still clinging to his voice. 

“Get up, we’re leaving” Ethan said to him over his shoulder, throwing their clothes and other small items they would need in a bag. 

“What’s going on?” He was sitting up in his bed at this point, rubbing his eyes tiredly. 

“Mom and Dad will explain on the way, hurry, get dressed.” Ethan replied, piling the last of his clothes into the bag, forcing the bag down and zipping it closed.

Rain pelted the sides of the car as his dad tried to maneuver through the storm raging around them, the car swerving back and forth as the gale-force winds pushed the car around, as if it were a simple tumbleweed. Too anxious to fall asleep again, Ethan just leaned against the door and watched what was left of the scenery around them pass by. Every year the states were terrorized by forest fires and floods, and although the floods were never over 14 feet, they still caused significant damage. He even remembered one year when he was little, before his brother had been born, that the water came up to their doorstep in Lincoln, but it never came within the house. His father used to tell him about places like Houston, Sacramento, Orlando, and so many others that were still high and dry when he was young. How humans had caused the melt of the ice caps, and how they still refused to believe that it was real, that the Earth changing temperature was normal, that soon the planet would start cooling again and we would be in another ice age. Ethan was jerked out of his thoughts when the car suddenly stopped.

”shit…” he heard his dad quietly whisper.

”what happened?” he questioned, all of the worst scenarios swirling around his head. His dad pointed out the front of the windshield. Craning his neck, Ethan looked out in front of the car, where the road in front of them was covered in at least a foot and a half of water. Now, one might think that wasn't that big of a deal, but the murky water could hide many unpleasant things. 

There could be breaks in the road that would immediately swallow a wheel, parts of the road could be missing entirely from past flash floods, or something sharp might be waiting to slash open a tire, along with various other risks. Suddenly there was a low rumble from behind them, steadily getting louder, at that moment every pair of eyes in the car widened to the point where you might have thought they would pop out of their skulls, because they all knew what that sound meant. At that instant his dad put the pedal to the floor, not caring what was in the water, because the thing behind them vastly dwarfed any danger in the water. As his father let loose a string of words that would make even a sailor blush, Ethan turned around to see how far their impending doom was from them, he froze when he saw the trees not 30 feet behind them getting ripped from the ground, a wave of debris and foam coating the wall of water that was quickly gaining on the small family SUV that they were trapped in like a can of sardines. 

The car sped through the water, slowly becoming more and more submerged as the ground under the water sloped downwards, slowing the car down more, the wall of destruction behind them gaining on them every second, now a mere 10 feet behind the car. Just as it started becoming even more hopeless, the ground started sloping up again as they came up on a hill, and the flood behind them was starting to fall behind. Ethan relaxed and turned back around. 

They were safe, they had outrun the flood, everything was going to be okay. Ethan looked ahead. He could even see a town not that far in front of them. But just when the sound of the flood was fading behind them, the car jerked to a stop, the front sinking under the water about a foot. His dad frantically trying to free the stuck vehicle, but to no avail, they were trapped, and the wall of water was surging toward them once again. __

_ Of course. Nothing could ever go right for one, could it? _ His mom and brother were screaming incoherent words, while his dad was yelling at them all to be quiet so he could get them out, while Ethan just sat there, frozen. He felt as though everything was happening in slow motion, sound was muted, and he felt as though he was submerged in molasses, his movements painstakingly slow as he turned his head to look behind the car. The flood behind them crashing forward. It looked even bigger than before, if that was even possible.And in that instant the wall of water hit the car, and everything snapped back to the normal time, the car was pushed forward, the front now freed as it was picked up by the flood. The water pushed the car sideways, then rolled it around like one of those hot dogs at a carnival, when it stopped rolling, the car was upside down and water was pouring in through the vents, Ethan was finally pulled out of his shocked state, and he started frantically trying to free himself from the seatbelt that had locked itself when the car flipped, effectively trapping him in the car-now-deathtrap. After what seemed like an eternity, he was able to unclip the seatbelt, and immediately moved to free his brother, who at that point, was flailing and screaming as he saw the water slowly creeping closer to his head.

“Hold still!” Ethan yelled, trying to get his brother’s attention and distract him from the danger so he could get him out. “I’m getting you out, you just need to stay still.” As he struggled with the seatbelt that was trapping his brother, he felt the water reach his waist, an he looked down to see that it was about inches from the top of Landon’s head. His hands shook as he struggled to undo the buckle, but finally he was able to get it undone, scooping his brother out of his seat and turning around to see his dad antically trying to free his mother, who must have hit her head on the window, because she was unconscious and a knot as forming on the side of her head, a small trickle of blood coming from it. Ethan’s eyes widened when he saw the window next to her, it was cracked, water slowly tickling in, the cracks slowly getting bigger. Trying to calm his panicking brother, Ethan searched for a way out, but the doors were not an option, as they would immediately fill the car with water, and there wasn't a way out through the floorboards, as he looked around himself, and the situation started to seem more and more hopeless. Water was now spraying through the window, and the water was up to their shoulders, his dad trying to keep his mother’s head above the water, but it was creeping closer and closer, and with her seatbelt stuck, he couldn't get her out. 

At that moment, Ethan realized that they had to make a choice, either leave his mother to die and live, or stay and they would all die. It seemed like it would be an easy choice, but it wasn't, he couldn't just leave her there, but he had to. At that point the water was up to their chins, his mom now under the murky water, as Ethan looked around the car, a plan formed in his head. 

He grabbed his dad’s arm, getting his attention, “we have to get out! We have to leave her or we’ll all die!” he yelled, he knew it seemed heartless, but it was the only way. His dad looked at him with a mixture of heartbreak and panic, but then a look of realization crossed his features, and he solemnly nodded. At that moment they only had about an inch of air, Ethan motioned for his brother to take a deep breath, him and Allen doing the same, as they were submerged, Ethan pointed to the door next to him, the one not pressed against a wall, and pulled on the handle while his dad pushed against it with all of his strength, just when it seemed as if it wouldn't open, it slid open, the rushing water pushing it open the rest of the way, the second it was open, he shot of the opening, holding on to Landon with one arm while he used the other to help propel himself to the surface. 

Right when it felt as if his lungs were going to explode, their heads broke the surface, both boys breathing in the glorious air, after he had stopped gasping for air and was breathing semi-normally, Ethan looked around them, he had grabbed onto a lightpost when they broke the surface to keep from being swept down the town-turned-river, and it appeared that they were in the middle of the street, the nearest roof 15 feet away. 

“Where’s Dad?” Ethan looked down at his brother, he was right, h should have been right behind them, but Ethan couldn't see him, but then he did, about 20 feet behind them, clinging to what looked like one of those ridiculous arm-waving blow up things, the kind that they had a car dealerships and car washes, sometimes gas stations. Ethan might of laughed had they not almost drowned and condemned his mom to death, not having a free hand, he shouted to his father to get his attention, it took a couple of tries for him to succeed, but when he did, he nodded towards the nearest roof, which looked like it might be a house, but he couldn't tell for sure, but his dad nodded, letting go of the blow up an started swimming towards them, thankfully they were downstream of him, so he didn't have to fight against the current. Once he reached the light post, they started swimming towards the roof, which was extremely difficult because they had to swim across the flow of water, although it had calmed considerably, it was still fairly strong. After what seemed like forever, they reached the roof, his dad climbing up first, then he handed his brother up to him, cold and shivering. Then climbed up himself, collapsing onto the roof, utterly exhausted.


End file.
